Love You Moore Read online

  “I really don’t know, what do you want to do, still thinking of the PR route?” replied Abby

  “I think so.” Holly stated, “I think it will be an awesome career choice and how exciting would it be to meet all those famous people.”

  “True” chuckled Abby, “but how many of those famous people reside in Maine? Of course there is Stephen King in Bangor, Judd Nelson is from Portland and Patrick Dempsey is from Lewiston, but I am not sure they actually use a PR Firm in Maine, is there even a PR Firm in Maine?” she questioned.

  “IDK” said Holly in text language because actually saying “I don’t know” would be so 2005.

  The thought of Holly moving away was actually very frightening to Abby. To have her very best friend in the entire world, not be 10 minutes away by car really was the worst feeling in the world and Abby did wonder what she would do without the person that has been there with her through good times and the bad and especially the time when they were 14 and Abby thought she would never recover from the tragic events that happened that Spring. What would she do if and when their lives took them in different directions? Abby shook her head at the thoughts and focused on the song on the radio before she started to tear up and put a damper on the weekend.

  “So you have no idea what you want to do after graduation?” asked Holly again.

  “Do I actually have to make a life choice right now this very minute?” Abby asked with laughter in her tone.

  “No, not right this very minute but by the time we get to Orono that would be great.” Joked Holly

  “Oh ok then, no problem I’ll get right on that” and they both laughed.

  They turned off the interstate into Orono after two hours of driving. Riding down Sorority Row and seeing all the Greek letters above the front door Abby wondered if this could be an option for her future. She made good enough grades to get into a State College. Her parents always told her that there was money set aside for a college education if that was what she decided to do. They turned onto campus near Alfond Arena where Cliff had said he would meet them and take them back to his dorm. Holly had seen Cliff standing by the football bleachers talking on his cell before Abby noticed him and shouted,

  “There’s Cliffy”

  The car hadn’t even come to a complete stop before she jumped out and threw her arms around him. She and Cliff had been close for as long as Abby had known them. He was two years her senior and there were the occasional disagreements with his over protectiveness when it came to boys and which one of his friends was implying to Cliff that they wanted to date his sister but Holly appreciated that, she knew that no matter what happened in her life Cliff would always look out for her.

  He hung up his phone and yelled to her.

  “Hey Holly Bear!” he said and picked her up so her feet were just off the ground and swung her around,

  “How was the ride? You found the place ok.?”

  “Yes your directions and the navigational system led us straight here.” Holly beamed.

  “Alrighty then, let’s get moving there are a lot I want to show you before the concert tonight.” Cliff said as he jumped in the back seat of the Jeep.

  He took them around campus and showed them the different buildings for the lecture halls, Bennett and Lord, and the dormitories. They had passed the Memorial Gym, the building with the large blue M on the front where the concert would be that night.

  “Do we know any more about the band itself other than the lead singer being super hot?” Abby asked remembering Holly’s description of him.

  “Not a lot,” said Cliff, “From what I have heard around campus, Jimmy Riley, the lead singer, started out as a song writer, was pretty good at it too and wrote songs for some of the top names out there. I guess when you write number one songs and you see other people getting all the glory, you want a taste of it yourself, so he started up Burnt Chocolate.”

  “Burnt Chocolate??!!” Abby and Holly both said at the same time, “What kind of a name is Burnt Chocolate?” Holly said as she tipped her head to the side trying to internally figure it out.

  “I don’t know” shrugged Cliff, “it’s just what they call themselves”

  “What type of music do they play?” Abby wondered aloud, thinking she would have to endure two plus hours of head banging noise.

  “Mostly Rock I guess, maybe some Pop, I don’t think it’s head banging Hard Rock or Bubblegum tween tunes.” replied Cliff, knowing Abby’s distain for the type of music any more aggressive than Aerosmith or Nickelback

  Maybe it won’t be that bad Abby thought to herself. They made it back to York Hall where Cliff lives, it’s an upperclassman coed dorm with over 200 residents. He says it’s very convenient because it also has a dining hall located on the 1st floor. He had moved in here after being in Gannet Hall, a first year dorm last year. They sat on a small loveseat he and his roommate had inherited from a friend that graduated last year. They had made their twin beds into bunk beds to give themselves a bit more living space and Abby wasn’t entirely sure it was 100% sturdy so she resigned herself to the loveseat and asked Cliff how he was enjoying college life.

  “It’s great.” He stated, “My classes are good, I am going to major in Engineering with a minor in Finance so it is keeping me busy.”

  Cliff was smart, Abby had known that from day one when she first met Holly’s family. Holly had invited Abby for a sleepover after about a month after they moved to the area. Holly’s mom wanted the house in order before they started having guests over. Linda or Mrs. Applebee as Abby would address her was whom Holly had gotten her looks from. Long golden blond hair that was tied up perfectly into French Twist, she had on blue jeans and a plain blue t-shirt and white canvas sneakers. She stood about 5’8” and could probably rock a runway if she had the inkling. She was just taking brownies out of the oven when Holly and Abby got off the bus.

  “Mom, I’m home.” Holly yelled as soon as they walked through the door of the old Captains style house that was the standard type home for Thomaston “The Town That Went to Sea” as the sign says as you enter town from the Rockland side.

  “In the kitchen Holly Bear.” Her mother yelled back.

  Holly dropped her backpack and led Abby by the hand to the kitchen where he mother was.

  “Mom this is Abby Moore, she is my very best friend and will be for life so I think she should get used to coming over often don’t you think?” She stated as she reached for a brownie as her mother was pulling the plate away.

  “These are for after dinner Little Miss.” Her mom said and bent down to give her a kiss.

  “Hello to you Abby Moore, nice to meet you.” She gave Abby a hug after setting the plate of brownies on top of the fridge out of Holly’s reach.

  “How was school today?” Mrs. Applebee asked to the both of them.

  “It was fine.” Replied Holly as she sat down at the kitchen table and motioned for Abby to do the same.

  “Although I still haven’t figured out what Carmen Monroe smells to make her face look the way it does.” She and Abby laughed at that.

  Mrs. Applebee looked sternly at Holly and said,

  “That is not nice Holly Mae Applebee, I don’t want you making fun of anyone.” Her mother said to her crossly.

  “Oh she is nice Mrs. Applebee,” Abby chimed in, “Carmen always does look like she smells something bad, her face is all puckered up, I don’t smell it so I am not sure exactly what it is.”

  Mrs. Applebee tried to hide the smile on her face and turned around as to muffle the soft laugh.

  A few minutes later her older brother Cliff came in, he was in the fourth grade at the same school but the girls didn’t see him often at school because they were on different schedules for lunch and recess.

  “Hi Sweetie.” His mom said as he walked into the kitchen and gave him a hug.

  “I smell brownies,” he stated.

  “They are for dessert” Holly told him as he walked over to the table to give his sister a hug.r />
  This Abby thought was unusual, she herself was an only child but had been around enough other siblings to know they most often hit each other not hugged.

  “Hey Squirt, who’s your friend?” he asked as he sat down at the table.

  Mrs. Applebee had brought over a plate of fruit and cup of juice for the three of them.

  “This is Abby, she is my very best friend and she will be coming over a lot” she emphasized

  “Hello Abby” Cliff said and stuck out his hand to shake it.

  Cliff acted well over the nine years of age he was. Abby took his hand,

  “Hi” she replied softly.

  “So how was your day today?” Mrs. Applebee asked Cliff.

  “It was fine. We were given an assignment to write about a famous explorer and I don’t know if I should chose, Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese sea captain who led five Spanish ships and 251 men in the first voyage around the World or Christopher Columbus who was an Italian explorer who sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, hoping to find a route to India in order to trade for spices.”

  “Well it sounds like you have a lot to think about, you can use the computer in your father’s office if you want to look up some facts and make your decision.” His mom offered.

  Holly and Cliff’s father was Clifford Applebee Sr. an Assistant District Attorney working for the state of Maine.

  “He sometimes sits second chair” Holly had told her once when they were up late talking at their weekly sleepover. “I guess that’s a good thing, I’m not really sure what it means I just know Daddy gets very busy when he does” she whispered.

  “Yeah, I’ll Google them both later," Cliff said, "I’m going to go watch some Nickelodeon, you coming Holly?”

  “Ok, come on Abby lets go watch some Nick.” Abby followed them to the family room.

  After that day either Abby was at Holly’s house or Holly was at Abby’s house. They both felt the same comfort at both places.

  As Abby was looking around Cliff’s dorm room she saw his High Honors sash he wore at his High School graduation and a picture of the four of them after he received his diploma, Mrs. Applebee on one side, Mr. Applebee on the other and Holly and Cliff in the middle. A very happy family, not unlike her own although Abby wondered how different her life would be if she had a sibling. Would they be as close as Cliff and Holly or would they constantly bicker and have issues with sibling rivalry? No matter she thought, she did have a sister in Holly and it didn’t matter that they weren’t blood related.

  “Hey Zombie Girl,” Cliff nudged her, “Are you going to zone out on this couch all day or are we going to go eat and listen to Burnt Chocolate?” He sang the name of the band and made the fist of rock.

  Both Holly and Abby laughed and got up from the couch.

  “Ok King of the Campus, lead the way.” Holly teased

  “After you, fair Maidens.” Cliff teased back as he bowed and opened the door.

  “Oh shoot!” Abby cried “I forgot to call my parents and tell them we were here.”

  Abby looked for her cell phone in her pockets and purse but couldn’t find it.

  “Did you leave it in the car?” asked Holly

  “Probably” sighed Abby “I bet I have about 100 missed calls from them.

  They all walked to the Jeep to look for the phone and found it sitting in the middle console in a cup holder and just as she thought there were 15 missed calls.

  “Jeeze, impatient much there Mom and Dad” Abby said as she flipped open the Motorola Razr to call them back.

  “Ugh…great” she moaned as she saw there were two from her parents and the rest were from Billy.

  “Really? What the Heck?” Abby said more as a statement than as a question.

  “What?” Holly asked

  Abby turned her phone so she could see all the missed calls from Billy.

  “OMG” Holly said with annoyance “Do NOT call him back, he broke up with you…you owe him nothing.”

  “I know…but…” she trailed.

  “But nothing, call your parents to let them know we are here but DO NOT call that Jerkface, let him squirm a bit. Did you tell him we were going away this weekend?”

  “No” Abby sighed again “I was hoping to have one weekend drama free.”

  “And you will.” Holly said with assurance, “Call your parents and let them know we’re ok and headed out to the concert and you will call them before we leave tomorrow”

  “O.k.” Abby said as she dialed her home number.

  “Hello” answered her mom.

  “Hi Mom, sorry I forgot to call, we saw Cliff as soon as we got here and we went right to touring the campus and then to his dorm and…”

  “It’s ok Sweetie Cliff was talking to his dad when you arrived and Clifford Sr. called us right after to let us know you had made it safely.

  “Well thank Mr. Applebee for me, I hate to make you worry.”

  “No problem Honey, oh by the way” she said not sounding as enthused as she did before, “Billy called and your dad didn’t know that Billy was not aware you were going to UMO this weekend. Billy sounded pretty upset, have you talked to him?”

  “No” Abby said rolling her eyes, “I didn’t tell him, it would have just ended up in a fight.”

  “I thought you two had broken up…again.” Abby’s mom said more of a statement than a question.

  “We did, that’s the problem, we break up, or rather he breaks up with me and still thinks he can know everything I am doing and control everything, he seriously needs to get over it, I am not calling him and if he calls the house again please just tell him I will call when I get home tomorrow.”

  “I will Honey, have a good time, don’t worry about what may or may not happen tomorrow just have fun while you are there.” Her mother said in a comforting tone.

  “Alright, thanks Mom, Love you, talk to you tomorrow and tell Dad I said I love him.”

  “I will, have fun Sweetie, bye.”

  “Bye Mom.” Abby hung up the phone.

  Abby walked back over to Cliff and Holly.

  “Everything O.K.?” asked Cliff.

  “Yeah, just great,” she replied a bit too sharply. “Sorry no, no, it is fine” Abby said waving her hand as if she were swooshing something away. “I am done thinking about him tonight.”

  “Good let’s go get some Burnt Chocolate” Cliff sang and again waiving the fist of rock.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 3

  After getting something to eat in the school’s café The Bear’s Den and checking out the University gift shop they walked over to the auditorium. Billy had called her phone five times since she had spoken with her mom. Abby hadn’t answered her phone and she hasn’t checked any of the messages he has left. She just did not want to deal with it tonight. She wanted to have fun and deal with the Billy issue tomorrow. She had thought of turning off her phone but always worried she would miss a call from her parents. Ever since the day of the accident when she was 14, the only time she turned off her phone was if she was in the company of her mom and dad. Again Abby shook off the memories of that day and focused on having fun. Holly was looking at her with concern,

  ��You have been very quiet Chicky, you O.K.?” Holly asked.

  “I’m good Girly Girl, thanks for asking though.” She replied as she gave her a squeeze around her shoulders.

  “You ready to rock out?” She said as if she were a valley girl from the 80’s.

  “Totally” Abby mimicked the accent.

  It was a free concert for the students with proper ID and $10.00 for any non student of the University. Abby took another $20.00 from the money her mom had hid in her pocket.

  “I got this Holls” Abby told Holly.

  “Why thank you Doll, I owe you a Dunkin or two.” Holly committed.

  They had always paid for and repaid each other. Neither one of them felt that they received the short end of the stick. If Holly bought dinner, Abby paid for the movie. If Abby pa
id for the concert, Holly would buy her coffee the next two or three times they went to Dunkin Donuts. It was just a something they started doing when they were younger and neither one of them thought twice about it.

  As they worked though the crowd to find three seats together, Abby’s phone kept ringing, she had at least put it on vibrate so she wouldn’t annoy everyone around her. She continued to ignore the calls. They were about three quarters of the way down front and about five seats in when they all sat down. The auditorium went dark except for a few lights on the stage when all of a sudden the band started playing and the light show started and she saw the lead singer. Holly was not exaggerating when she said he was super cute. The college girls must have seen or at least heard him before because they were screaming as if Jon Bon Jovi himself were up on that stage. Nevertheless, Abby admitted to herself he was very good looking and motioned to Holly that Jimmy Riley was one hot fella. Holly mouth back,

  “I told you,” as she continued to dance in the aisle to the beat.

  Jimmy Riley had semi short brown hair, kind of messy looking but it worked for him. Average build but could tell he had smokin’ biceps and was imagining abs to match. He wasn’t wearing anything flashy, jeans a t-shirt and an oxford shirt half unbuttoned and the sleeves rolled up. He was maybe six feet tall, hard to really tell from where she was standing. Not a bad voice, sort of a mix between the raspy sound of Chad Kroeger from Nickelback and the soothing sound of Michael Buble’. Abby found herself enjoying the concert and half ignoring the vibrating coming from her pocket but always checking to see if it were her parents. After about 45 minutes into the concert Abby had had enough of the constant calling walked out into the hallway off to the side of the auditorium and answered her phone.